Is japanese band ars nova dead?

[vis4victor]

They not made official studio cd ,since 2009.
Very good band ,in vein of par lindh project ,and elp.
Put my 512 GB dap library on shuffle ,This band played .

I'm like ,I have not heard these guys in ages.
I spun Fear and Anxiety and Godess Of Darkness back to back
I know they did something with band Gerard ,Which I own.
Can not think of name ,Of album atm .Which has me piqued ,To listen them and Par Lindh Project.
3 bands I not spun in ages,With similar music style.

[JKL2000]

Good question. It seemed like you could hear the death knell for them with the last one or two releases I got. They started to become self-made CD-R releases.

[calyx]

I understand the 1990s line-up reformed for a few gigs in December last year, which is documented on a DVD. They also played at the Crescendo Festival in France last summer.

[vis4victor]

If they did gigs ,One can hope for comeback cd with that lineup.

[winkersnufs]

Good Morning....

More ProgDay memories!

Carry On
Chris Buckley

[dropforge]

Good question. It seemed like you could hear the death knell for them with the last one or two releases I got. They started to become self-made CD-R releases.

The only one was Chrysalis... — intended to introduce the new quartet line-up with the guitarist — and then it was issued as a proper CD by Musea. 2009's Seventh Hell was a full press.

[rockcup]

There is also a mailadress.

http://www.arsnova-prog.com/index.htm

[SteveSly]

I always enjoyed this band. Have not heard anything about them in a while though.

[Shadow]

I'm like ,I have not heard these guys in ages.

Don't you mean gals.

[noni]

Great band!.....

[zeprogmeister]

Liked the original lineup.. After the bassist and drummer left they seemed to jump the shark with being more interested in sexy imagery rather than the music.

[vis4victor]

Gals your right ,I keep forgetting this group is mainly female lol.
This is when you know ,You own to much prog .
You do not remember ,who is what anymore lol

[Sputnik]

Liked the original lineup.. After the bassist and drummer left they seemed to jump the shark with being more interested in sexy imagery rather than the music.

My sense as well. They lost me after Book of the Dead. That didn't have the original bass player, but I feel it's their strongest album overall, though I like the first three very much. If they came back to form like those early albums and did a new one, I'd be in. Otherwise, meh.

Bill

[Mr.Krautman]

Liked the original lineup.. After the bassist and drummer left they seemed to jump the shark with being more interested in sexy imagery rather than the music.

It looks that the original cover "art" for their Android Domina record was too sexually explicit and has to be changed for the Japanese market.
Later some male musicians joined the band and it was the start of the decline, though not sure it was related.
Maybe there was no market for a BDSM-style female ELP clone band ?
Technically competent musicians (listen to their Tarkus and BdB covers) but lacking originality.


ARSNOVA.01.jpgARSNOVA.09.jpgARSNOVA.08.jpgARSNOVA.07.jpg

[moecurlythanu]

Maybe there was no market for a BDSM-style female ELP clone band ?

C'mon. What are the chances of that?

[Progbear]

Liked the original lineup.. After the bassist and drummer left they seemed to jump the shark with being more interested in sexy imagery rather than the music.

I got the feeling that their [male] manager was pushing them into the “sexual” angle, which is why there started to be such a revolving door membership. I remember them doing this simulated S&M act at one of the Progday festivals I attended, and I kind of felt embarrassed for them.

[Buddhabreath]

Glad to hear they played last summer and December. I kinda thought they were long gone. They were great when I saw them at Orion years ago when they had that amazing and incredibly cute drummer.

[Paulrus]

I got the feeling that their [male] manager was pushing them into the “sexual” angle, which is why there started to be such a revolving door membership. I remember them doing this simulated S&M act at one of the Progday festivals I attended, and I kind of felt embarrassed for them.

Surely someone has a snapshot of Keiko in her leather thong and fishnets outfit from ProgDay? Nobody?

But yeah, I got the sense that their manager was the musical equivalent of a pimp for that band. Not a very savory character, even by Japanese standards.

[Scrotum Scissor]

During my Nippon frenzy in the mid-90s-to-mid-00s, Ars Nova were quite possibly the single worst band I encountered. A gimmick-goup drawing attention -primarily- for non-musical faccets, theirs was the artistic impulse of shallow intent and an eye for surface and surface alone - also musically speaking. And it was never due to the "prentiousness" or bombasm of their purported sound, as this one was handled way better and even far more extreme by other Jap bands who unfortunately lacked certain apparent factors of immediate appeal.

I actually listened through all of The Goddess of Darkness this last weekend, and it's still an absolute hooch. To the "symph rock" idiom what 'The Nun' might be to "alleged horror-movies" as separate genre.

[Steve F.]

During my Nippon frenzy in the mid-90s-to-mid-00s, Ars Nova were quite possibly the single worst band I encountered.

but what did you REALLY think of them?

I saw them several times in the early days (1996-2000) and was always very underwhelmed. ELP / symphonic rock strictly by numbers.

The following is, of course, imo:
They could play, but it was very robotic and without any internal fire; I always got the impression that if one of the keys on the keyboard stopped working, she wouldn't know what to do and would just always hit the silent note because that was what she was programed to do, rather than improvise around it.

YMMV.

[Scrotum Scissor]

But what did you REALLY think of them?

Sersiously; they always struck me as the kind of project where very good musicians were presented with a concept about which they knew nothing and had no "natural" enthusiasm whatsoever - and were told to "Do this thing for us!"

By Dog knows who. Probably George Soros, like. Yeah.

[Mr.Krautman]

but what did you REALLY think of them?

I saw them several times in the early days (1996-2000) and was always very underwhelmed. ELP / symphonic rock strictly by numbers.

The following is, of course, imo:
They could play, but it was very robotic and without any internal fire; I always got the impression that if one of the keys on the keyboard stopped working, she wouldn't know what to do and would just always hit the silent note because that was what she was programed to do, rather than improvise around it.

YMMV.

These few words perfectly summarize what I've seen/heard.

I hope that in other (extra musical) domains they are more involved and less "robotic without any internal fire" !

[dropforge]

"bombasm"

[JKL2000]

Surely someone has a snapshot of Keiko in her leather thong and fishnets outfit from ProgDay? Nobody?

[Trane]

During my Nippon frenzy in the mid-90s-to-mid-00s, Ars Nova were quite possibly the single worst band I encountered. A gimmick-goup drawing attention -primarily- for non-musical faccets, theirs was the artistic impulse of shallow intent and an eye for surface and surface alone - also musically speaking. And it was never due to the "prentiousness" or bombasm of their purported sound, as this one was handled way better and even far more extreme by other Jap bands who unfortunately lacked certain apparent factors of immediate appeal.

I actually listened through all of The Goddess of Darkness this last weekend, and it's still an absolute hooch. To the "symph rock" idiom what 'The Nun' might be to "alleged horror-movies" as separate genre.

That album is the only one I owned, though I did borrow another (can't be sure which)... indeed, impressive musicians but a total lack of soul, whether on disc or on stage, though they did have me fooled for a while when you had a choice between Magna Carta bands, melancholic viking prog and 80's UK or Japanese neo-prog (though I wouldn't put Ars in that hat)

but what did you REALLY think of them?

I saw them several times in the early days (1996-2000) and was always very underwhelmed. ELP / symphonic rock strictly by numbers.

The following is, of course, imo:
They could play, but it was very robotic and without any internal fire; I always got the impression that if one of the keys on the keyboard stopped working, she wouldn't know what to do and would just always hit the silent note because that was what she was programed to do, rather than improvise around it.

YMMV.

Saw them also three or four times during those years (usually at Spirit Of 66), but they were an absolute bore on stage with about as much stamina as a cucumber (or three, FTM). First time was with a bassist (which meant there was some movement on stage) and that airhead drummer dressed like a manga cosplay and doing silly things on her drum stool.... The other gigs, if I remember well (that's when I awoke from my snoozes), it was a double KB thing.

If I saw them that many times, it's because they were part of the bill (usually with other japanese bands), because outside the first time, the other encounters just happened while going to see some other band

Sersiously; they always struck me as the kind of project where very good musicians were presented with a concept about which they knew nothing and had no "natural" enthusiasm whatsoever - and were told to "Do this thing for us!".

That Keiko chick was cute but too skinny for my taste, and had nothing to talk about (though I can imagine that a nippon girl being surrounded by beer-guzzling belgians in the middle of the troll-inhabited Ardennes can be fairly intimidating), but yeah, they looked bored anf going though the motions